The sports world was rocked by the recent announcement that Max Kellerman had been taken out of ESPN's highly popular First Take program. Kellerman has been a familiar face on the show alongside Stephen A. Smith, but apparently, it was none other than Smith himself who wanted Max booted out.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Smith no longer wanted to share the stage with Kellerman, and it was Smith who demanded that Max be thrown off the show:
Since he has become a giant in the industry, his moves reverberate. Smith has wanted Kellerman off “First Take” for years. Though it wasn’t personal, according to sources, Kellerman has a “smartest guy in the room” attitude, and Smith wanted more of a debating challenger. And ultimately, he wanted it to be him versus the world.
If this is true, then this speaks volumes of just how much power Smith holds in his hands. He's ESPN's golden boy right now, and as it turns out, he's powerful enough to get one of his co-hosts removed from the show. It's also not as if Max Kellerman is a small-time analyst. He has been around the game for some time now and has established quite a reputation for himself as well. It wasn't big enough to save him his seat at the table, though.
I guess we all should have seen Stephen A. Smith's rise to power coming. After all, ESPN gave him his own show, Stephen A's World. As it turns out, it absolutely is his world right now.
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